The truth will
come out, sooner or later. That's what they say.The truth
will set you free…they say that, too.They just
don't know how right they are.I LOVE the
truth. The beautiful TRUTH that--Hiei and I
are NOT twins.Hiei is not
my brother.I am not his
sister.Oh, I DID
think that he was my brother. After all, he was everything my brother would
have been, had my twin survived the fall into the Makai rivers. And the
way Hiei acted around me…he was too obvious, didn't he know that? He had
thought that I was his sister, too. But, his real sister died years ago.
The Koorime elders killed her…like they did to my brother, tried to do
to Hiei, and…to me.I escaped,
of course. Only, I was stupid enough to be kidnapped by ningens. Ningens,
of all creatures! I played along with them, though, thinking that my twin
was still alive, and that he'd come to rescue me.And then that
carrot-topped ningen boy arrived. The Great Kuwabara Kazuma, he called
himself. Not my description of a hero, but he did save me.From dying
of sheer boredom. A girl needs a little excitement in her life, you know.I thought
that was all I would get. A little excitement. And then HE came. My true
hero.Hiei.HIEI.Such a beautiful
name, don't you think? Fits him perfectly. Too bad I had to learn it from
that orange-haired idiot who keeps following me around like a drooling
puppy. It just had to cross my mind that Hiei could be my brother, didn't
it? That was all it took to slow my lightning speed heartbeat to the regular
thudding against my ribcage. It would have been SUCH a waste if the beautiful
fire youkai turned out to be my brother. I wouldn't have had a reason to
keep Kazuma-san at bay. Oh well, I probably would have just killed him.Actually,
I DID kill him. He'd been pissing Hiei-chan off way too much for him to
live out his entire ningen life. That didn't sit too well with his sister,
though. Shizuru-san was the only one who realized the truth about his death.
She certainly had impressive psychic abilities. Too bad she didn't live
long enough to make full use of them.No one else
found out. The fools. I thought they were better than that.But I don't
care. It doesn't matter anymore.As long as
I get what I want.Hiei. He is
mine. Always was, and always will be.

* * * *

He stood at
the edge of the cliff, his hands dug deep into his pockets. The wind played
around with his jet-black hair, but did not make it any more unruly than
it already was. His eyes, all three of them, were closed; his lips were
pursed into a thin line. He did not make even the slightest movement.I sneaked
up behind him, or at least tried to. He had a peculiar way of sensing my
presence no matter how much I tried to mask my youki. Then again, I was
that way with him, too. I came closer and slipped my arms around his waist,
clasping my hands in front of his stomach. I rested my chin on his right
shoulder, inhaling the familiar yet still intoxicating scent of him. He
cocked his head to one side to give me a kiss on the cheek, but I turned
my head so that it fell on my mouth. When we broke the kiss, I nuzzled
his neck and I was sure he felt me smile…"Look."He always
spoke in a low voice. So masculine.I looked up
at the sky to admire his handiwork. There were no clouds to block my view;
I fancy that they, too, were frightened away by the dark flames of the
Kokuryuuha now licking up the remains of its icy treat.It had been
my birthplace, and his, as well. Our supposed hometown. GONE.Good. It's
more beautiful now than it used to be, if ever."I like it.""I knew you
would, Yukina-chan."